courting breaths   after blue i brighten
       i lighten   with originless humour
and then ugliness anew                          
   i tighten   into some packed pearl of monster
breathe in   breathe out   courting breaths
the susurration    of all this lung
resuscitation    and it's 'good morning mourning'

then 'bring out the empathy' !  and zitty connections
and marvel over   'those poor things'          
larval in their struggles   up the redline
and envision throwing them heaps               
of hairdryers  salad spinners  monopoly boards
            vibrating cushions  for back massage
and obscure tinned delicacies  from my extensive travels
the five devils of my mind  tackle my erratic breath
five mad ideas  of how to run their lives
                        milk their hive
form a worship  and go to war..

..then it is i who goes larval                  
                          carving in on my minuscule heart
crutching in like a fractured pill bug
not daring to raise my eyes      
             for fear of offending my superiors
breathe in   breathe out
counting down the breaths til rattle

I feel so much              it’s just like good movies
hard hurt  romance and rescue               
         rage  and ostracization
it's them  it is witty they     the horn spittled gitty devils!           
they've pitted faults in my structure
                                                        to feel through
my dermis            tup-tapped and stabbed at                
    quaking ***** little jokes   at my impractical existence
i am made spongiform                     vulnerable pupation    
frogspawn                                    
      mangy food at mercy  ...

...and my pratty employment...

...but it's okay now
enamel              
i'm desensitized to it all                
         distant to the proceedings
the quirky murky readings
                   then again   sudden barks get through
jarring feedings                        
            and i am rushed with expense ...
... for a while

mused chemistry
my worth feels    peopled and oxygenated
my work cradles balanced appeal                  
creation is warm          with budgings of whim
simple commerce   with the ghosts of physical laws
                                     and a birling alchemy

there once was a land that was rich with things
everything working with no broken swings
about 4 years ago it started to fail
the spirit of the nation was turning quite pale
some thought it was good and just went along
others were appalled and knew it was wrong
what was the reason many of us asked
it appears that our rights are questioned and tasked
we rambled about and fought from within
losing some friends and a few of our kin
we need this to change we said in a vote
but the man at the top, he started to gloat
he ate up the laws and turned into a grinch
casting people about and not giving an inch
we elected in another to take on the task
to cast the grinch out and peel off his mask
well grinch wouldn't budge and sent out his saps
to alter results and further the collapse
what do we do, can we take on more ****
I for one am just done, and the grinch has to quit....

Brian Hill - 2020 # 319

two swings, back and forth
a lovely rhythm of our feet scraping the ground
in opposition of each other
a pair in matching metal screeches
the eroded dips beneath us damp with rain.

the sun decides to leave us be
the clouds threatening to dampen us like the mulch
that finds it way into our shoes,
the wind picks up, pushing us higher
than we ought to be.

my hands find the chains
cold against my calloused skin
I brace myself against them, the swing out of my control
your hands find mine, you slow me down
my eyes are pressed shut.